ITEMS OF INTEREST August 24, 1907 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Postmaster General Meyer proposes the establishment of a parcels post and a savings bank in connection with the post-offices. The savings bank, which is to be patterned after a similar department in the English and Canadian postal service, would not be run in opposition to the regular savings institutions, but simply to encourage thrift among the working classes. The amount of deposits will be limited, probably to $2.50 or $5, payable only to bearer. The proposed parcels post system would probably be limited to eight or ten pounds. Stamp-vending machines also will be introduced, similar to those now in use in Germany. These machines, which it is expected will increase the postal revenues, will be placed in hotels and public places. A reduction of foreign postage rates to a two-cent rate to such countries as are in direct steamship connection with the United States, will also be recommended.

The Jamestown Exposition is declared to be complete, in a statement issued by Director General Barr, who says: "It fittingly commemorates the great historical event which it was designed to celebrate, and it reflects credit on the State of Virginia, the South, and the Nation. In the character of its buildings, the excellence of its exhibits, and the beauty of location on historical Hampton Roads, it compares favorably with any exposition held in this country, and it fully justifies its management in asking the united support of the people of the country."

Convictions on all the counts of the indictment just returned by the Federal Government for western New York would render four corporations liable to fines aggregating $18,240,000. The report charges the Standard Oil Company, the Vacuum Oil Company, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania railroad with giving and receiving special illegal concessions on shipments of oil from Olean, N. Y., to points in Vermont.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF "NEXT FRIENDS"